Do you ever read through a few verses of the Bible so quickly that when you go away you don’t retain a thing? We all do at times. We read scripture with a laundry list of To-Dos on our minds instead of engaging with the text. The author of How to Read a Book states that a book is like a conversation, you “listen” as you read, ask questions, and seek the answers in such a way that you’ve “heard” the writer speak. A great thought to keep in mind as we approach God’s Word each day. No more rushed conversations as we seek to “finish” our quiet time and dash on to the next thing. Time with the Lord is not something to be “finished.” It is a conversation to be had and a relationship to enjoy!
This morning, let’s treat our time with the Lord like we would a visit with a favorite friend. Grab a cup of coffee (or your favorite beverage). Settle in to your favorite comfy chair. Snuggle up in your favorite soft throw if it’s chilly where you are. And have at hand your Bible, paper, and pen. Get ready for a great conversation! Relax. Chat (pray). Listen attentively.
Turn to John 1. Read these words with fresh eyes – maybe in a less familiar version of the Bible for you. Read as a listener. Jot questions in the margin or on your paper. As you ask a question, listen. No quick answer? Then keep reading, it may come. Talk back to scripture. Prayer is part of that conversation we have, so is journaling, so is listening in your inner man.
Let’s get started together and I’ll bow out and leave the two of you to converse alone.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:1-5
~ Wow, Lord! Why is Word capitalized there? We only capitalize names. So I guess that really does mean Jesus as my preacher has said. That makes sense. The Word = Jesus.
~ In the beginning was the Word – And He’s always been. So Jesus you’ve always been, even before you were born as flesh and blood. You were there with God at the Creation of the earth. How can this be, Lord? I have trouble wrapping my mind around the whole concept of eternity and the fact that you have always been. It’s sometimes anxiety-producing for my finite mind to try to grasp eternity.
~ and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. – Not only have you always been Jesus, but you, The Word, “…Was [were] God” from the beginning! How does that work? Will you explain it to us in heaven one day? Because frankly it blows my mind. I’m just gonna trust you with things I don’t understand. But I’d really like to know one day.
~ 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. – All things were created through you Jesus, Word of God. All things. Me, mountains, oceans, space… You are limitless, God! It overwhelms me to consider your majesty and power and greatness in this way. Was it hard for you to create some things? I guess not if you spoke them all into being.
~ And if all things were created by you, I guess that means that they are just the way you meant for them to be, right? So my fat nose was supposed to be that way? And my son, who exasperates me but brings laughter to the house, was meant to do just that? Exasperate and bring joy? And mosquitos even have a purpose in your plan? Are you kidding me, Lord?! Surely there is no good purpose for a mosquito!
~ 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. – So you not only created life, Jesus, but you ARE life? Life is in you, Jesus – I’m seeing that as I get older. All the home decor, and dressing the kids just so, and going on fancy vacations do not make me feel alive. My true moments of living this life are when I experience your presence! I understand this part, Jesus. It lights up my day when I hear from you in a personal way or you meet a specific need or use me to touch another weary human soul that is made in your image. You really are “the light of men” – and women.
~ 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. – Jesus, sometimes my darkness feels overwhelming. Sometimes I struggle to see your light in my darkness of the mind. Lord, will you remind me in those dark times that your light is there? Will you ignite hope and light in my soul when I don’t have any? I know You always bring me through my depression and worries and dark moments, but sometimes Your light seems hidden from me. Thank you, Jesus, for always being there even when I’m blind to you working in my life situations! I couldn’t make it through the darkness alone. I love that all the darkness can’t overcome you; it can’t beat you. You shine through and win in every situation! Thank you, Jesus! I love you, Lord!
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Now it’s your turn. Starting today, and over the next few days, finish reading through John 1, one verse at a time. Discuss the verses with The Father one by one. Ask questions. Be honest. Listen. Write down what God is saying to you. See what you hear from God today.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . “ Philippians 3:20
Many years ago, in what my husband and I refer to as the B.C. (Before Children) days, I worked as an assistant editor for a health and nutrition magazine. Toward the end of my time there, I got to travel around the world visiting some incredible places and meeting some fascinating people. Not gonna lie, it was a pretty sweet gig. One of my last trips before I quit the magazine to raise kiddos, was to explore Hawaii. I vividly remember walking through the nooks and crannies of paradise thinking, “Wow God! You outdid yourself on this one.” And it was gorgeous and felt so foreign and so familiar. But after a few days in paradise, my heart began to long for home. I have loved traveling since I was a little girl, but on this trip my heart couldn’t wait to get back to my husband and my friends and family. When those plane wheels touched down on the tarmac in Birmingham, I cried tears of joy and gratitude. It was then I realized the best thing about being away was coming home.
It’s been two decades since that trip and I still haven’t forgotten the longing, the ache I had to get back to the familiar, the comfortable, the place where I was safe and where I was known and loved. Not long after that trip, God gave us the treasure of children. We had four in six years, and as they’ve grown life has ebbed and flowed between the mountaintops and valleys. My husband and I have lost grandparents and beloved aunts and uncles. We’ve faced serious illness and hurt with friends and family who have faced tragedy and pain that we’ve wished with all our might we could take away. We’ve faced the darkness and sat in that cursed pit of despair more often than we’d care to admit.
But with each trial, with each suffering, with each lifting of the curtain of horrors that is life on earth, I’ve found myself growing more and more uncomfortable in this place. The more I experience in this place, no matter how beautiful, no matter how profound, it is tainted. It is merely a shadow of what is to come. And I find myself longing for home. It’s often hard to describe that glorious rapture of the promise of eternity. The promise of a permanent place, an eternal place, not marred by sin and shame and death and decay. I feel it when I see a fiery sunset or the wind blowing right before a storm.
This summer I read “Adorning the Dark” by Andrew Peterson. In the book he talked about being drawn to fantasy literature as a kid. As an adult he began to ponder why he was so drawn to stories about the Far Country and the Grey Havens. He realized it was because he was being drawn to the Greater Story of a place that was far beyond earthly shores. The place that is both foreign and familiar. A place where you are known and loved and safe. A place where the sharp edges of a world steeped in sin are replaced with the curves of a world showered in grace. Our hearts long for this place, even if we don’t quite know what it is we’re longing for. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has set eternity in the human heart.” It’s like a slow awakening to the reality that there has to be more than this place. And as C.S. Lewis said so aptly, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” And so we do, and so we are.
So when I find this world overwhelming and the tragedy and pain wrecking my heart, I remind myself of this truth.
I am a citizen of two countries.
One temporary, the other eternal.
One broken, the other beautiful.
One tragic, the other triumphant.
One full of sin, the other full of grace.
I was born in one country, but I am born again in the other.
Jesus himself has secured my citizenship in the Far Country.
Some days that longing for home is too much. Some days the groaning is too deep for words. I’m thankful for every day God gives me here in this temporary place to show others, to tell others, about the beauty that awaits them if they would just acknowledge their true state and the Savior who fulfills their every longing. I ask the King of that forever place to give me courage and boldness and strength while I have dual citizenship. But you better believe I’ll be rejoicing when my feet touch down on the tarmac of heaven. Faith made sight. Hallelujah!
Years ago there was an older woman who sat beside me occasionally in choir named Rochelle. I called her Mrs. Rochelle as we southerners tend to do in respect for anyone more than a couple of years older than we are. I didn’t know her well because we were supposed to practice and not talk too much during choir, but I could tell she was a wise woman who loved the Lord deeply. Our choir was scheduled to sing at a church across town and Mrs. Rochelle needed a ride, so I volunteered to pick her up. Let me tell you, that 20 minute ride became a memorable lesson for me.
I picked Mrs. Rochelle up at the appointed time and we fell into an uplifting conversation almost immediately. Her verbal autobiography was filled with God moments, scriptures, and blessings. She was indeed a mighty woman of God. The most memorable story she shared was about her trip to Walmart the day before.
She had planned to go a few days before. That morning she made out her list and was all dressed and ready to walk out the door when she sensed the Lord telling her not to go that day. So she didn’t. Mrs. Rochelle made sure to point out to me that she listens to the Lord before she does anything. I was pretty impressed. I mean, I prayed and asked God about things too, but it was big things like having another baby or should we go in debt for a new car. But whether to go to Walmart? Nope, I had never even considered praying about that.
As it turned out, Mrs. Rochelle did not make that Walmart run for about 3 days, and then, according to her, the Lord said, “Ok, you can go today,” on that Saturday before our choir adventure. As she was relating the story to me she said, “And you know what? I got to Walmart and everything on my list was on sale that day! And there was another special item I had been wanting to buy that was available, and I could buy it and stay on budget because of the money I saved!” And she glowed with the joy and enthusiasm of the Lord as she told me this story.
That day is still profound in my memory. Do I always pray about whether I should go to Walmart? Sadly, no. But I have learned to seek God in many more of the small things of life. And I have also experienced the Lord surprising me when I take time to seek Him in everyday things. The power of prayer can never be over-estimated, and learning to take ALL things to Him is a lesson we all need to learn.
So I encourage you to check in with God today. See if He wants you to go where you’re headed. Ask if He wants you to say what you plan to say. Pray for His guidance before you jump in and accept or decline a request for teaching or ministry, or quit a job or buy a car. Submit every choice to the leading of the Holy Spirit. “In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight,” Proverbs 3:6 NIV.
For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Psalm 36:9
A few years back a sudden eye emergency landed me at the retina specialist’s office. Everything turned out well after a few visits over the following 6 moths, however, he made a comment as I was about to leave on my last visit that shocked me. He told me, an early 50-something that I had cataracts forming. What?! Was I getting old? I still felt young! Wasn’t cataracts a condition for my grandmother, not me? I immediately came home and read up on cataracts. Isn’t that what we all do in the 21st centry? Find out too much health info on the internet and scare ourselves silly?
As it turns out, cataracts are a quite common result of living. As we age the lenses in our eyes become thicker, less pliable, and cloudy. That cloudy lens is the cataract. It doesn’t come on overnight like catching a cold and waking up with a sore throat. Instead, the lens clouds slowly, imperceptibly over time as we age, not causing any problems at first until we begin to notice our night vision going, or we experience dim, blurry vision at any time of day.
Isn’t it the same way with our spiritual vision? We are going along fine and dandy walking with the Lord through life. As we mature we begin to see spiritual truths more and more clearly most times. But occasionally our spiritual vision may become cloudy. We slowly drift along not even knowing until one day an emergency situation causes us to suddenly realize we don’t have God’s perspective on things anymore.
It’s sad. We’re shocked.
Maybe you’ve seen this in others. Godly people, serving the Lord faithfully. Then they start doing something not really wrong, but different. Maybe they miss church more or hang out with a different crowd or develop habits you internally know aren’t good for them, but you are hesitant to speak up to them about. They drift on, getting further and further down the stream away from the people of God, until one day a couple of years later you run into them in the grocery store or somewhere and say “Hey! Where have you been? I’ve missed you!” only to find they have moved on to another lifestyle totally away from from the heart of God. Their lens has gotten cloudy and they have lost their way.
It’s sad. We’re surprised.
Or perhaps you’ve seen this in yourself. You wake up one morning and say, “Where am I, and how did I get here?” You find yourself in a spiritual morass, stuck in the muck of sin and rebellion, when just a couple of years ago you were on fire for the Lord, maybe even leading a Bible study group. How did this happen?! Your lens grew cloudy. Spiritual blindness set in.
How do we handle spiritual cataracts?
First, just like with physical cataracts, we want to stop them before they start if we can. How do we do that? My eye doctor pushed me to wear dark lenses whenever I am out in the sun. It seems there is a connection between sun damage to the eye and the development of cataracts. So everywhere I go I wear sunglasses now. What do we know to do spiritually that will keep our sight healthy? Read God’s Word, study God’s Word, memorize God’s Word. Obey God’s Word. Pray and listen for His still, small voice. Share in community with the family of God. Be discipled – have someone who holds you accountable. It is much too easy to be a blind, wandering sheep when we are not in contact with others to help offer words of direction and correction.
Second. If you wake up with the “Where am I, and how did I get here?” feeling, drop to your knees and cry out in repentance. Repentance is doing a 180 degree turn around to get back on the right path. What is the right path? Ask God’s forgiveness and for Him to get you back on track and restore your soul. And follow through with just what we said in point one.
Third. Don’t depend on yourself and trying to be perfect. Go to the expert – your Creator. The Life in Christ is not lived in our own strength. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a God-focused life that can see clearly and avoid or be healed from cataracts. How are we empowered? By just what we said in point one. The Life in Christ is very simple: Stay in The Word. Prayer. Obedience. Community. The Holy Spirit will equip us and empower us. Scripture will instruct us, convict us, correct us, and train us in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)
We may stumble in sin and be temporarily blinded, but Jesus is capable of making the blind see! Our spiritual eyes may have developed cataracts that have clouded our vision, but our Master Surgeon can restore us to full sight. Come to Him and allow Him to treat your blindness.
This Election Day seems full of tension and concern (if not downright fear and anger). As we go vote today, we need to be reminded of blessings, put things into perspective, and encourage our hearts.
We are blessed to have a Creator God who loves us and made a way for us to find atonement for our sins.
We are blessed that God’s love is so great that He would sacrifice His Son Jesus ion our place.
We are blessed to have the hope of eternal life with Christ in Heaven.
We are blessed that God is in control, and no matter the outcome of the election, He is still in control. Don’t believe the false narrative that if your person doesn’t win all is lost. That is a fear tactic of the enemy of our souls.
We are blessed to be alive and breathing today. God has a purpose for us today.
We are blessed to live in a free country where voting and discourse on government is not banned.
We are blessed to live in a rich country where the bottom 20%, the poorest of our poor in America, are richer than the average person in most European nations.
We are blessed in America with the freedom to speak and worship as we choose and not have our daily actions dictated to us.
We are blessed to have families and friends who love us.
We are blessed with heat on a cold day, water we don’t have to walk miles to draw from a well, and basic necessities to live.
We are blessed to have friends and live in common city with other believers where we can draw together to pray and encourage each other.
We are blessed here in Alabama today that we are not living in fragile wooden shanties with a Cat 4 hurricane pressing down upon us as Nicaragua is. (Pray for the people of Nicaragua and Honduras today!)
I could go on…
But instead, I ask you to go on. Make a written list of some of your blessings today. Instead of fear and dread of the future – count your blessings. Instead of arguing and hating – list you blessings and allow it to spur you to love all those around you. Instead of writing, posting, or speaking maliciously today, write down your blessings. Write words of hope, love, and encouragement. Speak life into the world around you. Speak God’s Word. Speak peace. Live like Christ. Forgive. Love others. Pray for God’s will to be done.
“Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdoms and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses.
When my second child was getting to that sweet stage of just-about-to-take-her-first-step, we were so excited! Our eldest had taken that first step alone on his first birthday. Now our second was right on track to do the same. She was already pulling up, and would even stand up in the middle of the room on her own. She walked round and round the coffee table holding on. She walked into Sunday School holding our hands every Sunday. We just knew she would do the same thing her big brother had done.
The evening of her 1st birthday, once all the guests were gone, my husband and I sat down in the living room floor about 8 feet away from each other. Far enough, but not too far. I had Little One in my lap. I stood her up on her feet, turned loose, and proclaimed, “Walk to Daddy.” She stood there a minute, turned her head to grin at me and promptly sat down.
Daddy was going to fix it. “Give her to me,” he said, “I know she’ll come to you.” So we reversed roles. This time Daddy got the grin and the girl plopping down at his knees. It was kinda comical. We decided she was tired from all the fun and we would let her try tomorrow.
Tomorrow came, and you guessed it, same story. It became a daily routine, and a little game for Miss La-La. It didn’t just go on for a week. No. Nor a month. No. And she heightened her game. It got to where she knew what was about to happen, and if we tried to stand her down on the ground she would pull her little legs up to her tummy so her feet would not touch the floor. As weeks turned months we inquired of our pediatrician whether we should be worried or not, and he proclaimed her to be “Fine. She’ll do it when she’s ready.”
At 15 months old, she was the odd-ball in the church nursery. One particular Sunday, the nursery workers were giving me grief about it as usual and I laughed it off as we hurried out the door to go visit my sister, Phyllis. Arriving an hour later in my sis’s home, we hugged, ate lunch and started the social “catching up” we Southerners do when we haven’t gotten together in awhile.
My sister is the heart of the family – loving, accepting, gregarious, and never without a huge welcoming smile. Everyone is drawn to her, including my Little Miss La-La, who laughed and spoke gibberish to her from the moment my sister hugged her. There were about a dozen of us seated around Phyl’s living room on couches, the floor, and kitchen chairs we dragged in. La-La was happily playing at my knees when there was that natural lull in the conversation. Phyllis smiled, held out her hands, and out of the blue said, “Lauren, come see me!” And you know what? She did! La-La stood up and took off across the room. Her first step was about 10 steps, and not the wobbly, baby kind. She just walked. We were all shocked, and my sister was thrilled that Lauren chose to walk to her first.
By the time we got back to the nursery that night, La-La was running. Yes running! And all the nursery workers were amazed that within a span of 6 hours the non-walker had become a runner. It’s a favorite humorous story our family loves to retell at all our get-togethers.
So why do I tell you this story?
Many times I’ve read Ephesians 6:10-18 and have been told to “put on the armor of God.” I always pray that, and want to do that, but in a crisis situation I would end up flattened – feeling totally laid bare and not sure where my armor even was nor how to use it. As I read this passage in Ephesians recently my mind caught on the words of verse 13.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then…
Put on the armor… so I’ll be able to stand my ground…
After I have done everything else, to stand…
Stand firm then.
Hmmm… Stand firm then.
Suddenly those images of my 15-month-old came flashing into my mind. She did everything to be able to stand and walk. But she wasn’t walking. After she had done everything to learn to stand and walk, then she had to do it. Stand firm then. Walk then. It was her choice. And she chose not to. She didn’t stand and walk for a few months.
How often are we like my baby girl? How often do we do everything at church? We go to worship, sing in the choir, go to Ladies Bible study, help with ministry projects in the community, serve and encourage and seem to be mature Christians old enough to “stand” when the tough times come. Yet when they come, we buckle our little legs and collapse in a heap. After we have done everything to mature in the Lord and to learn to “stand” in Christ, we still allow ourselves the option of not doing it. We simply don’t stand firm. We choose not to, just like my little one chose not to stand and walk even though she could have.
Ladies, it’s time for us to no longer be babes. It’s time to grow up in the Lord and decide to stand firm under our own will. We have trained. We are ready. Will we choose to stand or will we cry out like dependent children for someone to hold our hand? It’s time to Stand!
It was to be a lovely birthday party. Gracie had requested a “camping-princess party.” One can search the General Dollar Store all day but I can assure you, one will not find a princess in a sleeping bag printed upon a plate. My friend, Michelle, had already checked. She called me and asked if I would be up for just such a challenge. I couldn’t guarantee a bunting with a sleeping-bagged princess but I would see what I could come up with. We arrived at the campsite early and hung paper lanterns and buntings, we glittered and sparkled that campsite up so well, the soon to be campfire would pale in comparison to the decor.
We left the campsite to run by the grocery store for supplies and to pick up the birthday girl and her guests. It was to be a lovely spend-the-night camping princess party. As we stood in the grocery store, I watched Michelle toss buns in the cart, and she declared she had “cow at home” she was picking up.
I knew precisely what she meant, as I too offered my cow, “Do you need me to grab some of my cow, when we run by my house to get my girls?”
She and I, along with several of our friends and acquaintances would purchase and share a cow, have it processed, frozen and would then consume it. She and I had been known to split a quarter of a cow. When we did that she was always responsible for the mathematical part, the dividing of our quarter into eighths.
We arrived back at the campsite, had pizza for dinner and made s’mores and crafts. Those 8-year-old girls had a lovely time. They laughed and laughed and my friend and I did too. While they danced and played and behaved like little girls full throttle in the middle of a princess camping party, we laughed about things middle-aged women laugh about. It was a glorious night that lives on in my memory as one of my most favorite. The party was set to culminate in a cookout-picnic to include the boys and families of the girls, the next day.
The next day, the boys arrived, brothers and daddies. I helped to prepare burgers and fixings while a candy crammed crown pinata was strung from a tree by the tallest of the dads. As Michelle removed packages of white-butcher-paper-wrapped ground beef I saw her counting. She was drawing imaginary lines in the air, I watched her hands move, she moves her hands whenever she is figuring mathematical things out. Her fingers dance in a rhythmic way akin to drawing; it looks like she makes plus signs that hover invisibly over the object she is focused on.
When we first became friends, she was an accountant turned seamstress so that she could be at home with her small babies. She always drew those imaginary lines when she was sewing and figuring fabric dimensions. I have seen her move her hands just like she did over those packages of ground beef more times than I can count.
She asked me how many buns we had. I told her the total we had purchased the day before. She reached down into the cow cooler and pulled out another package of meat. She pattied the meat into burgers and headed out to the grill. I laid the table with buns, chips, pickles and condiments in an atmosphere of the princess camper theme: pinks, sparkles, shiny napkins and party horns.
At the end of the cookout-princess-picnic I marveled at how the clean-up lacked one element that is always characterized by my party or meal planning. There was not an uneven number of burgers and buns, thereby resulting in either a leftover, bunless burger or excessive buns destined to become breadcrumbs. As I cleaned up, the thought never crossed my mind, the answer lay within the prep work and an action I had seen a half a dozen or more times.
I was thinking about that event one day recently when I stood over the meat counter at the grocery store and I was trying to figure out how much meat to buy, too little or too much is my typical. I remembered how she stood over those packages of meat. As I meandered down Memory Lane, I had recalled something she mumbled simultaneously as her fingers danced over those 1 pound packages of ground beef.
Four, into one is a quarter. It would take two packs of beef for every one – an eight count package of buns. When she asked me how many buns we had, she simply calculated that number by four and figured out how many packs of meat she would need. Then she evenly divided those packs into four quarter-pound patties. I stood there in the Piggly Wiggly and I laughed out loud in the direction of the meats. I was amused that I had finally figured it out.
I am fairly certain, the rump-roast-purchaser to my left was not nearly as amused by my seemingly random meat induced hysteria.
“Four.” She had simply said “four.” My mind worked as I stood in the Piggly Wiggly, my gaze fixed downward into a sea of red rectangular mounds.
Four.
She had prepared perfectly in advance by way of her mathematical skill the task set before her. I had witnessed her do it numerous times before and never quite figured out how she always managed to get numbers correct. I always just figured it had something to do with how her brain worked.
It dawned on me later, in that perfection of plan and preparation she is like the Lord. And like my taking a hot minute to figure it out, I am like…well…I am like me. As per usual, sometimes it takes me a while to get it, to connect the dots, and figure it out.
His word says is Ephesians 2:8-9,
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We were created to do good works, not for our salvation but because we are saved. And not just random haphazard works but good, perfect, works that God prepared for us in advance. Taylor made. Specific to me, specific to you. Good works that the King of the Universe determined in advance for us.
Perfect callings that each of us are to fulfill. We are not all called to be preachers and teachers. We are not all called to be writers and speakers. We are not all called to international missions, but we are all called and created for a specific purpose in the family of God, in the Body of Believers.
Michelle asked me to merge the world of dainty princess and rustic camper because she knew and had the confidence (even if I didn’t) in me to pull it off. She sees in me a potential I do not always see, and in that, yet again, demonstrates how she is like the King.
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Psalm 119:15
Charles Spurgeon, in his devotional book Morning by Morning asks, “Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life?” A great question to ponder today.
We have all, most likely, found times in our lives when we were doing all the Christian disciplines, yet growing in Christ seemed to evade us. We felt stagnant maybe, or perhaps legalistic. We read the word faithfully, but it fell on our hearts with a cold distant feeling. We prayed, yet without fervency of spirit we had known before. We attended services with believers, but went away unchanged. We probably asked why, and evaluated our lives for any sin and prayed to be delivered from that drought of the soul.
Spurgeon makes a very interesting observation as to why this may be that we can “go through the motions” yet not advance in our Christian walk. It all has to do with digestion.
In the physical world, digestion is crucial. Food can go in the mouth, but if an illness causes the body not to be able to digest the food the body goes without nourishment. I saw this happen with an elderly family member whose body was declining. Her chart was first labeled her with “failure to thrive.” Food was no longer enticing to her. And eventually, because her body was no longer processing the food it received, her system began slowly failing.
In the spiritual world just as in the physical, digestion occurs when the nourishment taken in is processed and broken down in order to benefit the health of the person. Our stomach digests food slowly over hours. Similarly, our spiritual food cannot be used effectually if it is gobbled down in a quick ten minute reading of scripture before work or listening to a 30 minute podcast from our favorite Bible teacher on the commute home. Those are simply ways to take the spiritual food into the mouth. This food needs to be mentally digested too. Do we ever go on to chew up this food and begin to digest it in a way that it nourishes our soul?
It takes active meditating on the things of God to get the real soul-nourishment from them. Time needs to be spent dwelling on it to digest it. Don’t just read the Word of God, meditate on it. Don’t just listen to the podcast, contemplate its impact on your life. Spend time as my granddad used to say “ruminating on it” to get its full flavor and meaning and benefit.
We are a microwave society and want to have everything now. But the deeper truths of scripture that will grow us more and more into the image of Christ come only through a deep contemplation and consideration of the meaning of scripture, in order to apply it to our lives. Find a quiet place away from the bustle – which isn’t quite as hard during this coronavirus pandemic – and focus on God’s Word. Meditate on it. Pray over it. Journal what God is speaking into your heart. Allow His Word to do its job of feeding you and growing you into His likeness.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. Psalm 119:99
The nest is empty. But the nest of the heart still holds the fledgling offspring as if they were newly hatched. A mother’s heart doesn’t turn loose just because a warm body is no longer in the bedroom each night.
Whether just down the road in their own place, hours away at college, married and establishing their own family, or halfway around the globe; they are still her little nestlings. Her heart thrills and mourns with every joy and tragedy she hears they experience. She grieves and prays over their heartaches and losses. She exults over their accomplishments and adventures as if those achievements were her own.
When the babies take flight our heart realizes that the pains and joys of childhood do not hold a candle to the grown up pains and joys that cause the heart to ache with overwhelming despair or rapturous delight.
Today Mama Bird, if you find yourself fretting over a little birdie who is eternally tied to your heart yet physically out of reach, try to remember our Father in Heaven and His care for our little birds.
~ I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. Psalm 37:25
~ May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. Psalm 90:16
~ But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children. Psalm 103:17
~ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26
~ Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Psalm 112:1-2
~ May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. Psalm 115:14
~ Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Psalm 127:3-4
~ Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. Psalm 128:1-4
~ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:21
He meant for them to fly from the very beginning! And it is good. Trust Him!
Priceless 